Mp4 – The Latest In Music And Entertainment.

As MP3 players are hitting market saturation, the new buzzword on the block is MP4. The latest generation of portable entertainment devices is capable of playing video as well as audio and is generally referred to as MP4 players. So, what is MP4 and how is it different from MP3?

MP4 means 'MPEG-4 part 14' and is a container format for a variety of multimedia content including video, audio, subtitles and still images. The 'MPEG' part of MP4 stands for Motion Picture Experts Group, a coalition of industry members responsible for setting technical standards for digital audio and video. (Contrary to popular belief, MP3 does not mean MPEG-3 - there is no such format. MP3 stands for MPEG-1 Layer 3.)

MPEG-4 was built on technology developed for the Apple QuickTime format. It is specifically designed for data 'streaming' - transmitting data streams which can be viewed and heard on the receiving device (usually a computer connected to the Internet) in real-time. It supports a number of different formats for video (MPEG-4, MPEG-2, MPEG-1), audio (MP3, MP2, AAC), still images (JPEG, PNG) and subtitles.

MPEG-4 is designed to be expandable so it can be adapted to include new technologies as they are developed. As a container, it can be scaled for various data transmission rates. This means that it is useful for most types of streaming from dial-up modems to Ethernet networks.

Although streaming is the method of delivery, MP4 files can be stored for later use. This makes the format suitable for portable devices of which a number of new models are hitting the market. MP4 players are the new wave of portable entertainment devices allowing consumers to watch videos virtually anywhere.

Since MP4 is not limited to video, MP4 players are also used for listening to audio files. They tend to be a bit bulkier than MP3 players because of the bigger screen required for viewing videos. MP4 players usually have a hard drive because the storage requirements for videos are quite high. The hard drive can also be used to store computer data and the unit behaves as a removable hard drive when connected to a computer.

MP4 files are recognized by the file extension .mp4, although a number of other extensions are also used. Audio files usually have an .mp4 or .m4a extension and video can use the .mp4 or .m4v extension. Video files are sometimes saved as .mp4v files.

Mp4